Coalition Letter to RSC Chairman Steve Scalise on a Carbon Tax Resolution

FreedomWorks has signed onto the following letter supporting Congressman and Chairman of the Republican Study Committee Steve Scalise in his resolution expressing the sense of Congress that a Carbon Tax would be an unacceptable detriment to the U.S. economy.

Dear Chairman Scalise,

On behalf of the millions of members and supporters of our organizations, we write to commend your introduction of a concurrent resolution expressing the sense of Congress that a carbon tax would be detrimental to the United States economy.

A carbon tax would increase energy prices by design, exacerbating pain at the pump and raising theprice of electricity and home heating fuels. The poorest Americans would be hit the hardest because they spend the largest share of their income on energy.

According to a recent study by the National Association of Manufacturers, under a popular carbon tax proposal output could drop by as much as 15 percent in energy-intensive sectors and 7.7 percent in non-energy intensive sectors, destroying millions of jobs.

Moreover, a carbon tax would be a new broad-based source of revenue to enable excessive federal spending. The income tax has never yielded more than 20 percent of gross domestic product in total federal revenue. A carbon tax would, like a value-added tax, enable a permanent increase in the size
of the federal government.

While the White House publicly denies plans to propose a carbon tax, there are thousands of internal Treasury Department documents discussing the issue that the administration refuses to release to the public. The chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee recently introduced carbon tax legislation, and there have been persistent rumors that such a tax could be included in a secretly negotiated deficit-reduction package.

Under these circumstances, it is critical for the House to take a clear and unequivocal stand that it understands how economically destructive a carbon tax would be. We therefore commend your resolution and urge your colleagues to support and pass it expeditiously.

Sincerely,

60 Plus Association – American Commitment – American Energy Alliance
Americans for Limited Government – Americans for Prosperity – Americans for Tax Reform – Caesar Rodney Institute – Competitive Enterprise Institute – FreedomWorks – Freedom Action – Frontiers of Freedom – George C. Marshall Institute – Heartland Institute – Heritage Action – National Center for Policy Analysis – Taxpayers Protection Alliance